Oscar-Winner Alexander Payne to Be Honored at Savannah Film Fest

The Savannah Film Festival, which runs from October 26 to November 2, is pleased to announce Alexander Payne's NEBRASKA as its official Opening Night selection. Academy Award-winner Payne will be presented with an "Outstanding Achievement in Cinema" award by the film's star, Academy Award-nominee-and 2006 Savannah Film Festival honoree-Bruce Dern.

The full festival schedule will be unveiled on Tuesday, October 1st when tickets go on sale to the public.

After receiving a sweepstakes letter in the mail, a cantankerous father (Bruce Dern) thinks he's struck it rich, and wrangles his son (Will Forte) into taking a road trip to claim the fortune. Shot in black and white across four states, NEBRASKA tells the stories of family life in the heartland of America.

Alexander Payne's first two feature films were the comedies CITIZEN RUTH (1996) and ELECTION (1999). ABOUT SCHMIDT premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002. Both SIDEWAYS (2004) and THE DESCENDANTS (2011) won Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and were nominated for four others, including Best Picture and Best Director. Four of his six feature films were shot in Nebraska.

Bruce Dern has appeared in over 75 films in a career that spans over fifty years. He has collaborated with the foremost filmmakers in the history of cinema, including Alfred Hitchcock, Francis Ford Coppola, Bob Rafaelson, Hal Ashby, Douglas Trumbull, Sydney Pollack, Quentin Tarantino and most recently, Alexander Payne. Notable films include SILENT RUNNING, THE KING OF MARVIN GARDENS, SMILE, THE GREAT GATSBY, BLACK SUNDAY and COMING HOME for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In May 2013 Dern won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival for his starring role in NEBRASKA.

Hosted by the Savannah College of Art and Design, the Savannah Film Festival has become one of the largest entertainment events in the Southeast. SCAD offers the only major film program in the United States integrated within an acclaimed art and design university. In the past eight years, the university has been one of the top 10 U.S. film schools in producing Student Academy Award finalists.

Both Mr. Dern and Mr. Payne will host separate master classes with SCAD students while they attend the festival.

Past festival attendees and honorees include: Peter O'Toole, Michael Douglas, Oliver Stone, Jane Fonda, Sidney Lumet, Diane Lane, Ian McKellen, Isabella Rossellini, Lily Tomlin, Ellen Barkin, Liam Neeson, Vanessa Redgrave, Matt Dillon, Norman Jewison, James Marsden, Tommy Lee Jones, John Waters, James Franco, Alec Baldwin, Ray Liotta, Aaron Eckhart, Roger Ebert, Terrence Malick, Sydney Pollack, Malcolm McDowell, and Milos Forman.

For more information on the Savannah Film Festival, please visit filmfest.scad.edu or follow us on Facebook and Twitter at @savfilmfest